Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to maintain the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government has no plans to end the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. However, HM Treasury keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to extending the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to other products which fail to meet Public Health England’s voluntary sugar reformulation targets.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As set out in Phase 2 of the Childhood Obesity Strategy, HM Treasury is due to review the Soft Drinks Industry Levy exemption for milk-based drinks in 2020.
The Government has no other plans to extend the scope of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the soft drinks industry levy to include sugary dairy drinks, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeon's Faculty of Dental Surgery's report The state of children's oral health in England, published in August.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As set out in Phase 2 of the Childhood Obesity Strategy, HM Treasury is due to review the Soft Drinks Industry Levy exemption for milk-based drinks in 2020.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made with the review of the application of VAT as applied to the NHS.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
At Spring Statement 2019 the Chancellor announced that the Government would carry out a review of VAT in relation to the public sector. The Government will be publishing a policy paper for public consultation in the coming months. The Government welcomes the views of public sector organisations including NHS trusts and organisations on potential changes.Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on victims of identity fraud in particular any adverse credit rating changes and the subsequent impact of such changes on mortgage payments and relationships with credit companies.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Under the Fraud Act 2006, it is a crime to dishonestly make a false representation to make a gain, to cause loss to another or expose another to risk of loss. The Government takes fraud extremely seriously and recognises the devastating impacts that fraud can have on individuals and businesses.
Decisions concerning how lenders assess mortgage applications, including how information from Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) is used, are commercial decisions for banks and building societies.
It is worth being aware that CRAs do not hold blacklists and do not tell a lender whether it should offer credit. Instead lenders use information from CRAs to come to their own commercial judgement. This means that while one lender may be unwilling to provide a mortgage due to a borrower’s credit history, that is not necessarily the case for other lenders.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to extend the VAT exemption enjoyed by local authorities to the NHS; and if so, how and when.
Answered by Lord Bates
Local authorities are not exempt from VAT, but are entitled to VAT refunds for non-business activities under the Section 33 VAT refund scheme.
Government departments and the NHS are entitled to VAT refunds for certain contracted out services under the Section 41 VAT refund scheme.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 1 November (HL2444), what was the total cost of VAT refunds made in relation to health bodies under the provisions of section 41(3) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, in each of the financial years since 2010–11.
Answered by Lord Bates
An estimate of the total cost of VAT refunds made in relation to health bodies under the provisions of section 41(3) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 information requested is shown in the table below.
Financial year | VAT refunds to health bodies (£ billion) |
2010-11 | 1.6 |
2011-12 | 1.8 |
2012-13 | 1.9 |
2013-14 | 1.9 |
2014-15 | 2.0 |
2015-16 | 2.2 |
2016-17 | 2.3 |
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 1 November (HL2444), and in the light of guidance from HMRC stating that VAT refunds paid under s 41(3) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 are met from public expenditure rather than VAT revenue, whether refunds paid to the NHS under that section are met out of the NHS spend voted by Parliament; and if so, whether the Vote is adjusted in order to meet the additional costs of those refunds.
Answered by Lord Bates
NHS expenditure is included in the Department of Health budget, which is voted by Parliament. Budgets are set net of recoverable VAT and therefore take account of payments under section 41 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many approvals have been given to financial models that allow wholly owned subsidiaries of NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts providing services to the NHS Trust or Foundation Trust that owns them to be established in order to claim VAT refunds.
Answered by Lord Bates
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not have a role in specifically approving business models used by NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts. It is HMRC’s role to collect the taxes that are legally due, including VAT.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Mel Stride MP on 12 September (HC8140), why HMRC does not hold information on VAT revenues from NHS bodies at a sufficient level of detail that it would enable them to calculate how much revenue is lost as a result of NHS organisations setting up subsidiary companies with the purpose of reducing their VAT payments.
Answered by Lord Bates
Successive governments have aimed to keep the cost to businesses of VAT administration to the minimum necessary for HM Revenue and Customs to risk assess and assure tax receipts. HMRC routinely receives and maintains the information supplied on the 9 box return of a business, but not detailed information in respect of their suppliers and customers. However, businesses must retain for six years business records with that level of detail, and make these available for inspection.